Tidwell Allphin inches closer to school record at Mt. SAC Relays

PROVO, Utah — No. 13 BYU women’s track and field totaled 12 personal bests and three top-10 marks across three meets throughout southern California on Saturday.

Mt. SAC Relays | Walnut, California | Hilmer Lodge Stadium

Cierra Tidwell Allphin, Cailee Faulkner and Ashton Riner-Lunt each represented BYU in the women’s elite events at Mt. San Antonio College’s annual meet.

Tidwell Allphin ascended to No. 2 all-time at BYU in the women’s high jump with a personal-best clearance of 1.88m/6-2.

“Cierra had a phenomenal day,” said BYU jumps coach Mark Robison. “She jumped very well and did so in good company.”

The junior from Gilbert, Arizona finished fourth in an elite flight that featured three professional jumpers including winner Vasti Cunningham of Nike/Red Bull. Tidwell Allphin overcame Jelena Rowe of Asics by two inches and took third among collegians after No. 5 Texas A&M’s Lamara Distin and Elena Kulichenko of No. 4 Georgia.

Having surpassed Melinda Hale’s 1994 mark on Saturday, Tidwell Allphin returns to Provo looking to break Andrea Stapleton-Johnson’s school record 1.89m/6-2.5 at the Robison Invitational.

Riner-Lunt took eighth in the javelin throw with a toss of 51.74m/169-9. Faulkner tied for ninth in the pole vault at 4.15m/13-7.25.

Beach Invitational | Long Beach, California | Jack Rose Track Stadium

Rebekah Ross and Maren Garnett each recorded personal bests on their way to finishing fifth and eighth, respectively, in the pole vault.

Ross progressed four inches beyond her previous best to reach 4.17m/13-8.25 and tie Elise Romney (2019) for No. 5 all-time at BYU. Garnett mustered a 12-centimeter improvement to a new personal-best 4.07m/13-4.25. The junior from Spearman, Texas recorded her previous best a season ago while competing for Utah State.

“Rebekah finally got her step out and jumped a new personal-best,” said BYU pole vault coach Rick McWhorter. “Maren made a huge jump today as well, and I know she can jump even higher soon.”

With their performances on Saturday, both Ross and Garnett placed themselves in NCAA West Preliminary qualifying position and did so while facing highly ranked vaulters such as Marleen Mulla of South Dakota (No. 7) and Tori Thomas of Illinois (No. 16).

Freshman Zoey Bonds notched personal-records in the high jump and 100-meter hurdles while Maddy Eaton added two of her own in the 400-meter hurdles and 200.

Bryan Clay Invitational | Azusa, California | Cougar Athletic Stadium

BYU women’s distance runners turned out five personal-bests in the 1,500-meter invite on Saturday night.

Taylor Rohatinsky cut nine seconds off her previous best to take 11th at 4:12.76. With that time, the freshman form Highland, Utah bolted to No. 5 all-time at BYU, surpassing Courtney Wayment’s 4:12.81.

Carmen Alder and Riley Chamberlain joined Rohatinsky in the top-20, taking 17th and 18th, respectively. Alder set a new personal-best, trimming over two seconds to finish at 4:14.08. Chamberlain cut four seconds to come in at 4:14.31. Alissa Fielding improved her previous best by three seconds to take 56th at 4:19.18.

Jacey Farmer and Natalie Hlusi closed out the meet in the 1,500m Open with Farmer cutting three seconds for a ninth-place finish with a new personal-best of 4:27.39.

BYU returns home for the first of two meets at Clarence Robison Track and Field Complex. The annual Robison Invitational is set to begin April 19 and runs through April 22.